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A healthy diet should be nourishing and meet the individual needs of the person eating it, and the nutrivore diet checks those boxes. Find out more about what the nutrivore diet is in this article.
The post The Nutrivore Diet: What a Healthy Diet Looks Like appeared first on Chris Kresser.
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Eating shouldn’t suck.
That may sound obvious, but let’s face it: For so many women, the very notion of mealtime brings up a ton of baggage, whether it’s the drudgery of trying to stick to an unsatisfying meal plan or a bunch of guilt and shame after “cheating” or going “off plan.”
And that’s really too bad, because we all deserve to enjoy the way we eat.
Improving your nutrition shouldn’t require you to white-knuckle your way through every meal, eating foods that you don’t actually like, all while wishing for a slice of cheesecake.
(Nor should it include lying awake at night berating yourself because you did eat a slice of cheesecake.)
You can improve your nutrition while still enjoying foods of all kinds, including those that might typically be considered “indulgent” or “treat foods.”
That’s right. Pizza. Doughnuts. French fries. Ice cream. None of these are “bad” foods. It’s just a question of your own personal priorities and choices.
Here’s how to find the balance that works for you according to your own food preferences, priorities, and goals.
Before we go any further, let’s make one thing very clear: It’s up to you how you eat. Not up to me. Not up to some guy on the Internet. Not up to anybody else.
(This is something that surprises many of our GGS Coaching clients at the beginning of their journeys with us! Nonetheless, we value every woman’s autonomy to make the choices she wants for herself, and this includes food!)
Because of much of the ambient discourse around food, many people have the habit of qualifying themselves as “good” or “bad” based on their food or drink choices. Similarly, some foods seem to take on magical properties and are described as “detoxifying,” “super,” or “miracle” foods, while others are demonized for being “fake” or “junk.”
Here’s the thing: Food choices are nothing more or less than personal preference, and a person’s self-worth is not tied to these choices.
Food doesn’t hold the power to make us good or bad. It has no inherent moral value.
So when it comes to making food choices, rather than thinking about foods as “bad” or “good,” try to shift your thinking toward your goals and what you want for yourself.
For example, is your goal to build strength or muscle mass? Lose fat? Manage a health condition? Improve your energy and focus? Or simply enjoy your food and life?
Depending on what your priorities are, you may choose to be more or less restrictive with your food choices. For example, it may be helpful to think of nutritional flexibility on a continuum, with a more restricted diet on one end and the most flexibility on the other.
Suppose you’re trying to manage a health condition with a doctor-prescribed diet. In that case, it may be well worth it to you to restrict yourself to certain foods in order to achieve a desired health outcome. Or if you have fat loss goals, you may be focused on creating a caloric deficit, and therefore you may be conscious of how many calories you’re consuming.
On the other end of the spectrum, if your focus is on gaining mass — or simply on having fun and enjoying new food experiences — you may choose to be less restrictive.
After all, food can be part of a powerful experience. Sharing a meal or treat with others can be extremely gratifying and healthy, regardless of whether you’re eating a food that may not be labeled as “healthy.”
Bottom line: Foods are not “bad” or “good”, and it’s up to you to choose what’s best for you.
And you know what? What’s best for you can absolutely change depending on the situation — talk about freedom!
What can “indulging” look like in action? How about what our GGS Coaching client Janice shared:
“I ate ice cream and drank white wine for dinner tonight. I did it with 100% full conscious intention. However, I did not finish my ice cream and I stopped at one glass of wine. I put my ice cream in the freezer and left wine for tomorrow. I ‘felt’ like I had enough of both and I stopped. I felt zero guilt of not eating protein, fiber, or veggies for dinner. I feel 100% satisfied with my choices to start and stop my actions. And I am currently extremely happy and content. I know tomorrow I will wake up hungry for a nutritious breakfast.”
With that in mind, here are some strategies that you can use — and layer on top of each other — to help you decide when and if you want to “indulge” in certain foods.
Quick science lesson. Let’s review Newton’s third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Choice → Consequence
OK, that’s enough physics for now. What we’re really talking about here are choices and consequences, with consequences ranging from positive to negative.
If you haven’t spent much time identifying how different foods make you feel, this is a good opportunity to get curious. Food affects us in a number of ways physically, mentally, and emotionally. As you approach “indulgent” foods, think about what might happen as a result of eating that food as well as what might happen if you choose not to eat that food.
Let’s walk through an example of a choice and its consequences.
Going out for pizza and beers with friends on a Friday night.
Consequences can be both positive and negative. They can be physical, affecting your body and your physical abilities; psychological, affecting your ability to think and reason; and emotional, affecting your mood or outlook. They may relate to your social life or connection with others. Consequences can be short term or long-lasting.
The real power here is in making the decision. Whatever you choose, you’re the one in charge. And that’s an empowering feeling.
There’s also a lot of value in taking just a brief moment to pause, consider the consequences, and make the decision. Pausing allows us to be mindful and increase our awareness of our options and priorities.
Pausing also allows you to learn more about what eating indulgent foods in moderation looks like for you. This way, you can experiment and evaluate when situations are worth indulging in. Pausing helps you get to know yourself and learn about your behavioral patterns so you can fully enjoy the way you eat with less stress and worry.
After paying attention to your choices and the consequences that follow, you’ll start to gain more knowledge about the effects of certain foods.
Remember, just because a food has negative consequences doesn’t mean it’s a “bad” food, just as a food with positive consequences doesn’t mean it’s a “good” food. Similarly, experiencing negative consequences doesn’t mean you’re bad. Consequences are just what happens as an outcome of the choice — sort of like a science experiment.
Expanding your understanding of the consequences and outcomes can help you decide which foods work for you to have frequently versus those you choose to have only every once in a while.
Foods that don’t have serious negative consequences might be foods you choose to have frequently, whereas foods that have more impactful negative consequences might be saved for special occasions.
For example, having a square or two of high-quality chocolate a few times per week might be something that satisfies your sweet tooth and reduces cravings, whereas having a brownie a few times per week might cause additional sugar cravings and may provide more energy (calories) per serving than you want.
As we said earlier, you’re in the driver’s seat. But the truth is, sometimes it doesn’t feel that way.
If you’ve ever opened a pint of ice cream or family-sized bag of chips, blinked, and discovered it was gone, the you know what I’m talking about. Our behavior around certain foods — which we might think of as “indulgences” or “treats” — can feel hard to control. We tell ourselves we’ll just have a couple bites, and then we find the eating unstoppable.
I’m talking about things like:
What’s going on in this situation? Well for starters, it’s not that there’s something wrong with you. The food was designed this way.
In most cases, the foods we think of as indulgences, treats, or junk food are high in energy (calories) and typically high in carbohydrates or fat. Their flavors are usually sweet or salty, and the foods themselves are often very processed. This combination usually lights up our taste buds and the pleasure and reward systems in our brains, making us want these foods more than others.
Biologically, this makes sense. Humans naturally seek energy-dense foods and experience a hit of dopamine (a feel-good hormone) when we eat indulgent foods. (That’s why you can feel perfectly full, but then walk by a bakery and start salivating for a slice of fresh bread or an oven-warm cookie.)
In other words, these foods override our natural satiety system, making them really easy to overeat.
If you find yourself feeling powerless to resist certain foods, the choice, of course, is yours. You may choose not to keep certain foods in the house, or to avoid driving by that bakery or pizzeria at night. Or you may make a conscious choice to enjoy the food, understanding and accepting the outcome. It all depends on your personal priorities and the choices you want to make for yourself.
As you continue to practice observing your own choices and consequences, you might start to notice some patterns. Great — this is more useful data to add to your own science experiment.
Understanding the way different foods influence how you feel and operate in your life is useful, as it can help you make more informed decisions. If you find yourself eating more than you want to, or eating foods you don’t really want to eat, it’s worth examining why and what’s going on in those scenarios.
It’s definitely a process, but a worthwhile one. Like one of our GGS Coaching clients says: “When I felt I ‘couldn’t have’ something, the resistance just pushed me further toward that food and I would overdo it and then berate myself for it. Now I pause to ask myself questions about whether I want to splurge on an item now or wait. I feel like I’m more in control. I still have some issues with some things but I’ve made huge progress overall.”
Here are a couple common situations, with possible solutions to experiment with.
Do you regularly go overboard with your nutrition choices simply because of “special” occasions?
Examples:
Possible solution: You might remind yourself that many meals and food options will be available to you again. If you pass now, more will likely be available later when you want it.
Do you have difficulty controlling your portion size if you’ve got multiple servings available to you?
Examples:
Possible solution: If situations like these ring a bell for you, you might consider purchasing single-serving portions instead of multi-serving packages, sharing large portions of foods with others, or freezing extra servings to eat at a later date. If you’re out to eat, add a serving to an appetizer plate so you can increase your awareness of how much you’re eating.
Identifying some of your patterns related to food can help you make changes in the future, especially as you decide whether or not to eat your favorite indulgent foods.
As you observe your eating patterns, consider this: Do you eat according to your hunger or your appetite?
If you’re not familiar with the distinction, hunger and appetite are not the same thing. True hunger is a signal from the body that you need nourishment from food. Appetite is a psychological want for food often stimulated by an environmental cue — like walking past a bakery or seeing a food commercial.
(By the way, these are both different from satiety, which refers to the level of satisfaction you get from what you eat).
Here are ways appetite shows up for many people:
Sometimes, you might find yourself eating when you’re not truly hungry. Or unable to stop eating even if you’re full. Or, like many people, perhaps you’ve lost the ability to know the difference between your hunger and your appetite.
These aren’t uncommon scenarios.
The truth is that most of us have lost touch with our natural hunger cues.
For one thing, most of us have access to a lot of food at all times. When we eat and what we eat are decided out of habit. We eat our meals at fixed times. We go out to lunch with coworkers and always choose the same meal. We systematically order the same snacks when we go to the movies.
We’re no longer clear on when we’re hungry or not, and we tend to view hunger as something that should be avoided at all costs. As a result, many of us eat to prevent hunger instead of eating in response to hunger.
When you feel compelled to eat, pay attention to what you’re feeling in your body:
By answering these questions, you can determine if you’re actually hungry or just experiencing appetite, and you can choose accordingly for your goals.
(By the way, this is a tricky skill to master, and this is why it’s one of the first ones we tackle in our GGS Coaching program — we give you specific practices to put in place to determine if you’re hungry or not. We always recommend that you approach this with gentle curiosity and compassion, not judgement.)
Often when it comes time to eat, we eat quickly and mindlessly — possibly in the car, at the computer, or while multitasking.
And if we do decide to enjoy a favorite treat, we wind up scarfing it down and it’s over before we know it. (Or we’re distracted by guilt or worried thoughts about what we’re eating, and we scarcely enjoy it.)
A good strategy here is to slow down and enjoy yourself. The more you slow down and savor, the more satisfied you’ll be.
Here are a few methods you can use to help yourself slow down and savor your food:
These are powerful practices, and you’ll be surprised at how they’ll change your patterns over time. Like one of our GGS Coaching clients has shared: “I have definitely noticed a difference in how much I eat and the speed at which I eat. I find myself fuller faster, and I don’t have trouble stopping without clearing my plate.”
Starting to use these tried-and-true strategies on your own can sometimes feel daunting — especially if you’ve spent a long time white-knuckling through restrictive plans only to drop them when they become unbearable and then go overboard.
The good news? You don’t have to do this alone.
If you’re ready to:
We can help.
That’s why we created GGS Coaching.
Women need coaches who understand their unique needs and challenges, and GGS Coaching is a coaching program designed by women, for women, run by women.
Helping women is what we do here at GGS. Tell us what your goals are, and we’ll help you achieve them in a way that lasts.
GGS Coaching was designed as the antidote to all of the typical obsessive, restrictive, exhausting diet and exercise programs out there, which are too difficult to sustain for any real length of time.
We get it. That’s why we use a sustainable, skill-based approach to help you practice the exact skills you need to get the results you want – without overhauling your life.
GGS Coaching isn’t just about getting the best physical results you’ve ever gotten in your life — it’s about becoming the best version of yourself, one step at a time.
On January 1st, 2020, we’re accepting a small number of new coaching clients.
Once you join the pre-sale list, we’ll send you more info about the program. And when enrollment opens, we’ll give you the chance to register 24-48 hours before everyone else. Plus, you’ll save up to 45% off our general public price.
The post How to Eat Whatever You Want and Still Get Results appeared first on Girls Gone Strong.
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Maybe it’s an injury that took months to overcome. Maybe it’s an illness that left you bedridden (or demotivated). Maybe it’s simple disuse and neglect that dragged on and on—or lasted your entire life until today. Or maybe you read my recent post about claiming health in later life and want to get back on the road to vitality. For whatever reason, almost everyone will be forced to recover and rebuild their fitness and strength after an extended period of inactivity. But there’s a wrong way and a right way to do it.
Here are some tips for doing it the right way:
Isometric contractions in the hospital bed (only if allowed by your doc, mind you). Single leg squats when standing up from the couch with your good leg. Bicep curls with the one arm that isn’t incapacitated. Whatever movement you can muster, get moving.
While it’s definitely “better” to train your entire body, training just a single body part or limb is better than doing nothing. It sends a signal to your body that you haven’t thrown in the towel, that you still need your metabolically-expensive muscle mass.
The quicker you can get back to normal movement, the better. Normal movement, not normal speed. Quality over everything. For instance, say you sprain your ankle. The best thing you can do to recover is to start walking on it with good technique. Once you can walk with good form, however slow you go, get walking. Walk without a limp, even if it’s 1 MPH. Walk without a limp, even if you have to use crutches or a cane to bear some of the load. Don’t roll onto the outside of your bad foot. Don’t splay that foot out like a duck to avoid the pain.
The point is moving—and moving well.
Inactivity increases the protein requirement. When you’re on bed rest (mandatory or self-imposed), your protein metabolism shifts toward that of an older person’s—lower efficiency, higher substrate requirements to attain the same result. You need more protein just to stay on top of daily maintenance. Plus, since you’re actively healing and recovering and laying down or repairing tissue, you need extra protein to handle the extra processes.
Eat a good 1 gram protein per pound of lean body mass as you prepare for your return to activity. Consider including whey isolate, as it’s an easy additive source of protein that’s been shown to improve recovery after bed rest and surgery.
When recovering from an injury or just getting back into exercise, you want to avoid pain. Sharp pains in the joints, strains in the tendons that you feel for days after, a pulled muscle—these are not okay.
But you will and should feel discomfort. Muscle soreness after a session is fine. It’s normal. Burning in the muscle during a session is fine. It’s normal. Pain is not. Avoid pain.
Regular walking is a powerful signal of “abundance” to your body. It tells your body that you’re still in the game, that you’re engaged with the world and have places to be. Walking is also the simplest, most fundamental way to get the blood flowing, get your joints lubricated, and apply a low-level stimulus to your musculoskeletal system. Pretty much everyone can walk.
If you have access to hills, even better. Walk up and down hills as often as possible. A brisk uphill walk is a legitimate way to build strength and endurance.
Work your way up to 5 times a week of 30-45 minutes. Throw on a weighted vest or throw some books in your backpack to add resistance.
Slow bear crawls are a great way to loosen up your joints and prepare your shoulders and hips for more complex, weighted movements. They’re actually a good exercise in their own right, especially if you haven’t done them since you were a baby.
Do these several times a week, preferably in the morning or before workouts, for a few minutes each day. Crawl forward, backward, sideways in a controlled fashion, making sure you feel the movements.
One basic way to improve balance (or just get more comfortable in unstable positions) is to stand on one foot and slowly sweep the opposite foot across in front of and behind you. Switch feet and do this every day for a couple minutes, or whenever you have down time—standing in line, for example.
You can also buy a 2×4 from the hardware store, place it on the ground, and practice walking forward and backward along it. You get the benefit of balancing on a narrow surface without the risk of falling to your doom.
Basic movements: knee flexion (squat, lunge, split squat), hip hinge (deadlift, kettlebell swing, trap bar DL), push (pushup, overhead press, dip), pull (pullup, chinup, row variations). You can do just about all of them with bodyweight, with the only one that’s really hard to do without external weights being the hip hinge.
Grab the Primal Blueprint Fitness ebook. It’s free and provides a step-by-step progression for all the movements, from total beginner doing pushups on the wall and assisted pull-ups to experienced lifter doing feet elevated pushups and weighted pull-ups.
Bodyweight exercises are totally sufficient for most people. It’s all about the amount of work you’re willing to do and the amount of effort you’re willing to give. In fact, I made the case in this post that you could build incredible strength and general fitness simply using bodyweight exercises plus some weighted resistance for the lower body (perhaps, say, my new favorite exercise: the trap bar deadlift and its many variations).
The benefits of seafood on recovery and bounce-back-ability are multifold:
First, seafood is a great source of bioavailable high-quality protein—protein you need to recover from whatever sidelined you.
Second, the long chain omega-3s have a potent anti-inflammatory effect that can improve your recovery and speed up your return to normal activity. They reduce pain and inflammation without curtailing the healing process. One study even found that high dose omega-3 intake increased physical activity, maintained physical function, and reduced the incidence of joint replacement in older adults.
Third, the long chain omega-3s also increase muscle protein synthesis, particularly in older adults (presumably with higher baseline inflammation levels). In other words, they make physical activity more anabolic. They improve your ability to build muscle, muscle that you’ve probably lost being injured and inactive.
That’s it, everyone. These are the tips and methods I’ve used to get myself back on my feet after a long layaway, and to help others do the same. If you have anything to add or questions to ask, do so down below. I’d love to hear what worked (and what didn’t) for you. Thanks for reading.
References:
Arentson-lantz EJ, Galvan E, Ellison J, Wacher A, Paddon-jones D. Improving Dietary Protein Quality Reduces the Negative Effects of Physical Inactivity on Body Composition and Muscle Function. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2019;74(10):1605-1611.
Alfaddagh A, Elajami TK, Saleh M, Elajami M, Bistrian BR, Welty FK. The effect of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids on physical function, exercise, and joint replacement in patients with coronary artery disease: A secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial. J Clin Lipidol. 2018;12(4):937-947.e2.
Smith GI, Atherton P, Reeds DN, et al. Dietary omega-3 fatty acid supplementation increases the rate of muscle protein synthesis in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011;93(2):402-12.
The post 10 Tips For Rebuilding Fitness and Strength After Long-Term Injury, Illness or Atrophy appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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There’s something simple and joyous about laying eyes on a fresh, vibrant lemon. Sitting in a fruit bowl or hanging out in the fruit and veg drawer of the fridge. Their vivid yellow color immediately grabs your eyes and makes them stand out in a pile of produce. And, when it comes down to it, […]
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Good morning, everyone. The staff and I are off today, taking some time with our families, but I wanted to wish the best to you and yours today. Maybe you’re in the thick of preparing the big meal for your guests or in the bustle of travel to enjoy the day with loved ones. Or maybe you’re taking a quiet day to observe the holidays on your own at home or in the great outdoors.
Whatever your circumstances and celebration, I hope the day offers you the chance to enjoy the experiences and connections that fill you, to honor the good in your life both past and present. As for me, I’m grateful today for my health, for my family and friends, for meaningful work, and for the gracious and inspiring community here. With best wishes to each and every one of you, Happy Holidays.
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The body is a well-oiled machine, with thousands of separate parts working together to keep you alive and healthy. Over 600 of those parts are muscles that make up nearly 40 percent of your body weight. Without muscles, your body would be an unruly skeleton covered in skin, flopping around life, unable to perform even […]
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2019 was a big year here.
I’ll start with the obvious. I sold Primal Kitchen® to Kraft Heinz back at the start. And though some of you expressed doubt and skepticism (totally understandable), I’m happy to report that things are going great. The brand and its products are still as high quality as ever while appearing in more stores than ever before. In fact, they’re getting even better. It’s been great to offer more varieties and flavors of the products people enjoy, and with the increased power of Kraft Heinz we’re able to get the best manufacturing facilities (for instance, we’ve secured use of a facility that does not process wheat—a real rarity in the industry).
What else?
As always, I tried a bunch of stuff. Did some experimentation…
There was a paper from a few years ago talking about the connection between fermented foods and anxiety. Their basic conclusion was that fermented foods like sauerkraut and yogurt and kefir can actually reduce anxiety in the long term. That always stuck with me. I definitely don’t have anxiety, social or otherwise, but like I said I do care about the outcome. That can manifest as something like anxiety (without the neurosis). It’s “justified anxiety.”
So, I tried drinking a quart of kefir in a single day on those days when I have a lot going on, when I’m doing some planning or just feel a bit out of sorts, like I’m on the cusp of the future and have yet to fully commit. It worked. It smoothed things out. I’m still doing it semi-regularly as needed.
Verdict: Keepin’ it.
Instead of taking an hour or 1.5 hours to train at the gym, I played with a new way of lifting that’s much quicker and more condensed. I pick a weight and lift it as many times as I can. Rest for 30 seconds. Do it again. Rest for 30 seconds. Do it again.
Sometimes I’ll do a final drop set. Drop the weight by 15% and do another set of max reps.
That’s under 5 minutes per exercise, I get a great workout, and because I don’t feel obligated (or able) to push really heavy weights, my risk of injury is lower.
Verdict: Keepin’ it.
Coffee experiments: I’ve always loved messing around with my coffee. It’s one of the most reliable and consistent things I put into my body. It makes a great vehicle for all sorts of tasty and nutrient-dense ingredients. So, what did I try?
Melt 1/2 bar of as dark a chocolate as you can handle in some cream, then add to coffee. Cocoa butter is rich in stearic acid, a saturated fat that causes mitochondria to fuse and become more efficient at fat-burning.
Verdict: Very filling. Provides steady energy. Might be worth trying if you want to cut calories. Delicious.
Blend raw or toasted hemp hearts in hot or cold coffee along with Collagen Fuel, cinnamon, and sea salt. Provides an enormous dose of magnesium (which caffeine can deplete) and creaminess. Here’s the full recipe.
Verdict: Delicious, calming. I use it from time to time.
Now for the big picture….
Keto is solidifying. More people than ever have learned to access their own body fat for energy. Keto isn’t as “exciting” or “explosive” as it was, but even better is that it’s becoming normalized. No one bats an eye when you skip the bun at the burger joint or opt for more meat instead of fries. Normalization is where the real power lies. My upcoming book, Keto For Life, is all about harnessing keto as a normalizing force for the rest of your life.
The Carnivore Diet is also exploding in a very exciting way; research is scarce, but the cascade of powerful personal success stories is increasingly undeniable. Even if carnivore isn’t the answer, the fact that people aren’t dropping dead and actually seem to be thriving is a harsh rebuke to the standard line about diet and health. We can learn a lot from carnivory.
Meanwhile, the anti-meat conglomerate really showed their hand.
The EAT-Lancet commission unveiled its global target diet, consisting of 0.75 eggs per week, a rat paw-sized serving of red meat each day, and so, so many almonds.
The “meat is murder, not just for the animals and your health, but also for the planet” message was really hammered home harder than ever before. This might have been the most insidious side of the conglomerate—conflating a legitimate issue with the strawman vision of ruminants destroying the planet. Luckily, there are people and projects speaking back to the misinformation and offering a healthy and sustainable vision. I’m doing what I can to support them.
Game Changers—a slick, well-produced documentary buoyed by a ton of moneyed interests pushing the plant-based agenda—took the Netflix-watching world by storm. I’ve heard from hundreds of readers whose families, coworkers, friends are going (or are considering going) vegan after watching the film. Still not gonna watch it though.
Germany is mulling a meat tax.
Maybe it’s all a coincidence, and these are all isolated pushes from independent actors who simply want to make the world a better place. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s a coordinated effort to change how people eat across the world—less meat and more plant-based products. My money’s on the last one. Either way, there’s a big fight coming, folks. There’s a lot of money and power behind the plant-based push. That’s going to be the big story in the next decade.
Despite all that, the most important part of 2019 was very personal.
I became a grandpa.
And my genes felt it. They said “My gosh, Sisson, you’ve done it. You’ve made it. You’ve really made it.” Because after all, from a natural selection perspective, having kids yourself isn’t enough. Passing on your genes to the next generation isn’t sufficient. No, your genes want to see themselves carried over to the next-next generation, too. And yeah, this hasn’t been quantified in the lab or anything, but it’s real. That’s the promised land for your heritage. You mean to tell me your genes don’t sense the shift? Mine definitely did.
Becoming a grandpa also made me wonder about the “source” of all this. Because that kid is a real miracle.
What does your 2019 roundup look like? I’d like to hear about the food, health, and fitness stories and experiments that resonated with you the most, but I’d love to hear about the personal journey you took. What were your defeats? Your victories? What did you love? What did you learn about the world or about yourself? What made you stop and reconsider what this thing we call life and existence is all about?
Tell me everything. And enjoy these last few days of 2019.
The post 2019 In Review: My Favorite Events, Experiments and Trends appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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It’s Monday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Monday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!
My progress will forever be in the works. But it does have a beginning.
I wasn’t born fat. I never even thought about weight or body fat until I realized that I had become too chubby. Around the age of 14 or so. I guess the hormonal changes and probably the decreased activity did it. Not really sure. Because I had always eaten incorrectly for my body. Too much sugar, wheat, processed foods. My belly has been bloated for as long as I can remember. I remember eating Grape Nuts as a kid and feeling bloated minutes later. I never put two and two together, until much later. Even though I was nowhere near fat then, food was still having an extreme effect on my health.
After having my two children, things got worse. I focused on them and forgot about who I was. Being a mom, wife and working a full-time job literally left nothing in the tank for me. I was still bloated, stressed out and definitely sugar addicted.
And then the weight crept on. By the time I was 45, I was at least 70 pounds overweight. And, I felt horrible. And because my children were almost grown, I was also able to see it and feel it more. I was depressed. And I ate more chocolate.
I remember clearly one fall day, raking (or attempting to rake) the lawn. My whole body felt like it was on fire. My back had sharp pains and I was too out of shape to complete the task. That was my final straw. I started to research a solution. Even though I knew a lot about food and what I shouldn’t be eating, I had so much more to learn. The diet choices were endless, but I settled on a well-known one, The South Beach Diet. And my journey began. My body was happy with the lower carbs (I still didn’t understand the sugar/gluten issues), and I immediately began to feel better. I ordered a kettlebell exercise program and began my journey into fitness. By the time my son was getting married in 2012, I had lost 30 pounds, and I was feeling pretty good about the way that I looked. But I still had the nagging stomach issues and bloat, and I was still clearly addicted to sugar.
In June 2013, my youngest son was home from college, and I got it into my head that he and I would find something we could do together for the summer. I happened to open the paper and see an article for the grand opening of a Crossfit gym in our hometown. I mentioned it to him and he said, yes, he had heard of Crossfit and we should try it. Full disclosure, I had never heard of Crossfit and I wonder now, if I had, if I would ever have wandered into that gym.
That weekend, he and I checked out the gym and committed to three days a week, starting the following Monday. Ironically, that week is also the week my best friend died of breast cancer. There were so many things in play at that time, I find it hard to sort out in my head, but I credit Crossfit for getting me through it. One, because I was so sore and tired, it was hard to think of anything but my body and two, I felt instantly like I was doing what was right for my body. My emotional pain was lessened by my physical pain—and little did I know, I was training my mind to beat anything that came before me.
A lot of Crossfit gyms prescribe to the Paleo method of eating, and this gym was no different. Eight months after I began my journey, they posted a Paleo challenge, using the Zone method of eating. After I completed that challenge and within the next few months, I had dropped another 40 pounds, literally without trying. My body had finally found the way it needed to be fueled, to maintain its optimum weight.
Since then, I have continued to Crossfit (just started my seventh year) and I eat Paleo for the most part. I have dabbled with Keto and found that I always go back to not wanting the strictness of counting carbs. I just eat veggies, with a bit of fruit. I eat no grain still (found that was my poison) and try to make/eat any treat I have without sugar (I have found sugar substitutes that work).
I prescribe to the Big Ass Salad method and faithfully eat one every day at lunch. We raise chickens, so I eat plenty of fresh eggs and meat too. I believe in organic and whole food. Simple is better for me. No processed foods.
My weight may fluctuate 5 pounds or so now, but I remain lean and fit. I have gained quite a bit of muscle over the years, and I wouldn’t consider myself thin.
But here’s the thing. I am 55 and I feel like I am 20. I have no aches and pains (other than sore muscles). My resting heart rate is 50 and my blood pressure is awesome. I take NO prescription drugs. Could I drop dead tomorrow? Yes, and I truly hope that is the way that I will go. But I won’t finish out my life in the same shape I was in 10 years ago. It has been a long journey and not one that you can describe to younger people, but to the older ones who know, isn’t life great when you feel awesome?
I hope this inspires someone who may just be at that tipping point. When you find your groove, it will transform you and your relationships and how you see everything else in life.
The post I’m 55 and Feel Like I’m 20 appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
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